Introduction
Educational guidance has a dual dynamic: changes in the socio-economic world and the individual’s personal development. For the individual to make an appropriate choice of profession or life, there are fundamental requirements and principles to satisfy. Psychological, family, institutional, and economic factors all play a role. Four factors need to be considered if genuine learning is to take place: effective intervention by educators, socio-economic development and the pedagogical principle, the emergence of the human person and the second pedagogical principle, and the ability to self-determine as the real objective of the guidance process.
Development
The need to stimulate motivation for self-determination, an essential condition for success in everything, becomes an urgent challenge in the educational and vocational guidance of young people.
The role of educators
It is the role of parents or educators to help young people discern the underlying reasons for their aspirations and identify their social usefulness. In this way, young people’s natural aptitudes are honed. Aspirations and aptitudes prepare and foreshadow vocations and even career choices. With this in mind, parents/educators should never criticise or denigrate a particular profession. Instead, they will present the beauty of the various human vocations, both manual and intellectual.
Socio-economic development and the first pedagogical principle
Scientific progress and ever-increasing technological development have turned the world of work and working conditions upside down. It is sometimes difficult for young people in guidance situations to have a global, clear, and synthetic vision of the world of employment to make a judicious, prudent, and responsible choice. Faced with the discontinuity, precariousness, instability and fluctuation of the socio-economic system in constant evolution, the objective of guidance from a pedagogical perspective is to enable young people to acquire skills enabling them to analyse the elements of their personality, their qualities and limitations, and the structure of the world of employment with its promising and tortuous paths.
The emergence of the human person and the second pedagogical principle
The emergence and expression of a vocational preference manifest the deep emotional and cognitive aspirations of the individual. For the choice of a profession to be genuine, it requires the presence of an educator who intervenes at a decisive moment to accompany the young person throughout the personal job-seeking process. He or she must reassure the young person of his or her personal quality, and of the construction of a professional or personal life project. This is what the principle of the emergence of the individual is all about.
Self-determination skills
This is a combination of knowledge, know-how, interpersonal skills, and interpersonal skills. It is used here to indicate a person’s ability to act on their environment to obtain the elements necessary for their growth. It refers to personal, interpersonal, relational, social and professional skills. Individuals going through the growth process should consider themselves personally competent. They have the ability to judge, evaluate and decide what is good and right for them.
Conclusion
Many young people are unable to make the right career or life choices. How can we help them so that choice does not lead to chaos or determinism? When education does not involve the whole personality of the individual, how can we help them to live their choice and direct their energies towards self-fulfilment? Remember, a personal vocation is a lifestyle. How can we help young people, above all, to make a commitment or to decide to be the main and responsible actors in their self-determination and personal growth?
